MacBook sales in 2016 are worse than the (terrible) overall laptop market

My MacBook Pro from 2011 is still “good enough”.

I bought a 2011 MBP earlier this year. I figured that if I regretted going cheap, I could always flip it for pretty close to what I paid. I upped the RAM to 16GB and replaced the hard drive with an SSD. The only serious limitation is that it lacks USB3, and that doesn't bother me often.

Aside from gamers, desktops and laptops have gotten to the point where even Microsoft can't make them unusably slow in a few years. I'm running the latest Photoshop on a five year old machine, and it handles it like a champ.

A single usb-c port just doesn’t do the job. What were they thinking?

That it isn't for everyone, and they have two other laptop product lines. The Macbook Air, when it first came out, was much more limited and more expensive than the Macbook or the Pro. If you are in love with the design, if thin and light are worth the premium, then have at it. Now, it's the reverse -- I'd recommend the Air for the average user, the Pro for everyone else, and the Macbook only if the design is one you must have.

I would expect the Macbook to add capability and come down in price as the Air has over the last several years. At the very least, I'd expect a Thunderbolt port on the next generation. Dell is betting big on Thunderbolt 3 in its latest generation of laptops, and I'd expect a lot more desktop docking options for it.

I have opened up hundreds of machines both apple and other manufactures

They all use the same components

Again, you are the liar here. I have proved it over and over again.

you live in make believe world, you just don’t want to admit that you are paying for a cute logo on a pretty box, because that is all you are paying for

The hard ware is no different. The cpus are the same, the hard drives are the same, the memory is the same, etc. Nothing inside an Apple is any different then low end Dells.

Do you really think Apple is putting Enterprise class hard drives that cost $900 each into a iMac that they sell for $1799 and still make crazy margins? I doubt it. They make crazy margins because they are taking that same hard drive that goes in the bargain Dell, slapping it in that iMac and charging you a premium for it.

Did you know most common parts in washer machines are the same across brands, models, low end and high end? The motors are the same, the transmissions are the same, relays, pumps, etc same stuff, the difference is the color and the controls. That $2000 Washer is the same stuff inside as the bargain $399 washer. You are paying for the looks, stainless steel, the fancier controls, lcd touch screen vs. knobs and buttons, and the name plate.

I am just educating you here. And hopefully others as well.

Just replaced a small office that has Dell Dimensions from 2005 with Lenovo M93Ps with i7

Other then being slow, nothing wrong with them.

Not bad 10+ years out of econo boxes that were used by employees every single day.

They love their new Lenovos, who wouldn’t like a computer that starts up in less than 10 seconds

So the numbers are lying to us?

Those darn numbers, always a sneaky bunch

Also who wants old 2015 technology in 2016?

And who wants laptops when iPhones and iPads do it better?

most people use facebook and minor web searching, why do they need full fledge desktops and laptops to do that?

The components are the same, I replaced tons of Apple hard drives, all Toshiba, same ones used in Dell laptops.

They use the same parts, sure they put an apple sticker with an apple part number on it, but if you look at the oem part number, they are the same ones you can find in Dells or HPs

Apple does not have a higher standard, again, stop with the lies on here

I have opened up hundreds of machines both apple and other manufactures

And you are but a novice. I have opened up thousands of machines of all kinds. I have worked on computers since the 1960s. I have worked for decades as an I.T. engineer building computer systems, from mainframes to micro machines. You have proved nothing other than spewing spurious claims that are meaningless. I have worked for people like you, who scream and holler but have no experience, and I set them straight. And quit throwing B.S. dollar figures that you're pulling out of your rear, like $900 hard drives going into iMacs. It is unseemly.

I never said $900 hard drives were going into Macs, I said the same hard drive that goes into a el cheapo Dell is going into Macs, it is the same drive.

Apple is not buying the best of the best, they are doing what everyone else does, buy the cheapest of the cheap and charge a large markup (they are better at the markup then everyone else)

But hey, keep living in that fantasy world. Once you have been in the parts business like I have you know all the parts that go inside these machines.

Thanks for proving you are totally useless in the field, I do circles around guys like you every day. Had two guys on a job trying to figure out a SQL problem on a domain controller, sure you are not supposed to run a SQL server on domain controller (I am sure you knew that) but it can be done, Both had “tons of experience” like you claim, four hours, couldn’t figure it out. I remote it and fixed the issue in two minutes, I even told the clowns what to do, when they first called me and where the fix was. They claimed they did it, I went in, nope, wasn’t fixed, corrected their mistake and had it up and running fully functional. Again, tons of “experience” but their experience would not allow them to do the obvious step first.

Talk is cheap on the Internet, everyone is an “expert”, makes millions of dollars, lays tons of women, and has a big huge ****

And that is all you are, all talk

And that is all you are, all talk

You're describing yourself. Useless. One of my jobs was responsibility for a bank of payroll servers running SQL, with RAID arrays of 24 hard drives. If there were an emergency like an earthquake, I was expected to rebuild the servers at an alternate site, load the O/S, install the SQL databases and set up remote communications in order to get the payroll functioning - all within a day. Have you ever done that? I don't think so. So don't get me started on you and your fantasies. 'Nuff said, out of here.

Apple is not buying the best of the best, they are doing what everyone else does, buy the cheapest of the cheap and charge a large markup (they are better at the markup then everyone else)

You are totally wrong on your sputtering claims. Apple CEO Tim Cook in a recent interview stated that because of Apple's buying power and supply chain, Apple purchased only the top 5% of the production quality of memory, drives, and other components from suppliers and enforced that standard with its buying power and was willing to pay for it. He pointed out that many components will have the Apple logo imprinted on them indicating these particular components, especially drives, meet that standard. Those that don't are sold to other OEMs.

You said in an earlier post that Apple does not make processors, but they do design them and have them made along with other components to their specifications. Apple even has custom memory made, which you are completely unaware of, along with other IC which are not included in the low end crap built from reference designs for other makers' PCs or devices.

There are many custom chips in Apple products you bow nothing about, Frankly, you show abysmal ignorance about the history of Apple products and component pricing.

I know what Apple does, they go to these factories and sprinkle magic Apple Fairy Dust on their components to make them special!

Because the parts are the same, you are buying hot air.

I have bridge in Brooklyn to sell you? Interested? I can let it go for a great price. Let me know ok?

Dell, HP, even companies like Acer and other 2nd and Third tier manufacturers like Apple and Gateway put their logo and part numbers on the drives, big deal. But the OEM also puts their part numbers on the drives as well.

And yet, Apple still has repair centers and “genius bars”. The infallible apple never need repair but they have repair centers sitting idle across the nation. Haha you guys are a joke

I know what Apple does, they go to these factories and sprinkle magic Apple Fairy Dust on their components to make them special!

Because the parts are the same, you are buying hot air.

You haven't a clue what you are talking about. Every part run produces components which have a bell curve of quality which can be tested to determine which components fall into what sigma of the curve. Those that are in the 95% percentile are considered the most reliable for speed and data seeking. Even components such as resistors and capacitors which come off the same assembly line will be rated 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10% according to how precisely they meet the specified resistance or capacitance rating on repeated tests. The higher percentage ratings are "good enough" for most usages and are priced accordingly, higher ratings are required for more precise usage and are "rarer" and priced accordingly.

I am certain you have not done a part for part comparison between an Apple product and any low end Windows PC as you claim. You've looked at drive capacity, speed, and perhaps seek time and maybe cache and nothing else in making your comparison, which you based on specs alone. Meanwhile you ignored the Apple logo added by the manufacturer after testing, which you will not find on any generic off the shelf drive found in any Windows PC.

Your snide, off-the-cuff claim that Apple is a "third-tier" manufacturer is specious and idiotic. No qualified rating puts Apple products as third tier anything. All reviewers put Apple at the top tier of quality and many PC Windows reviewers rate Apple's quality and performance when running Windows as the best. So, no, Apple is not by any stretch of fact "third tier." Only you Apple hate merchants push that line of bilge.

I am certain you have not done a part for part comparison between an Apple product and any low end Windows PC as you claim.

As usual, Swordmaker, you set the record straight with facts that are only challenged by low-IQ simpletons like ARL295. Everything ARL295 spews is woven out of nothing, a fabrication of what passes for his mind. Early on, I gave an example of WD drives being labeled with color codes indicating quality to show that not all drives are equal. The lower end drives go in home security camera boxes and his Windows machines (probably buys the cheapest PCs). The higher quality stuff is what we use, supplied in Apple computers. Facts are facts, despite the anti-Apple spewers.

Again, all talk

Nope, I've been around for decades doing things you couldn't even imagine in the I.T. industry. I retired young because money isn't everything, and am content enjoying my seven-figure investments - including having invested in Apple stock when it was in the teens and twenties before multiple splits. How's your PC stocks?

sorry

don’t own any stocks, I own hard assets like real estate and ammo

I don’t play rigged games

But I don’t understand what any of this has to do with your lies and warship of a failed computer company

Oh wait, you own stock and are pissed at the big losses

Now I get it

Good luck with that

Actually that is all bull and you know it

The only “high end” drives that Western Digital sell are the enterprise class SAS drives

Everything else is low end

Blue Label-5400RPM Consumer grade hard drive, found in Dell, HP and Apple products
Black Label-7200RPM Consumer grade hard drives, found in Dell, HP and Apple products
Green Label-5400RPM consumer grade (low power/green) hard drives, found in Dell, HP and Apple Products
Red Label-5400-7200 RPM, Consumer grade NAS/Storage drives, found in consumer and SMB market arrays (designed for 24/7 operation)
Purple Label-5400RPM, found in consumer and SMB DVR,NVR,set top boxes, video and surveillance hard drives (Designed for 24/7 operation)
Yellow Label-7200 RPM SAS or SATA Enterprise class hard drives, found in Dell, HP, Lenovo, IBM Servers and Enterprise class storage arrays

I never found a yellow label drive in an Apple Product, sorry. But I have seen them in Enterprise class servers and workstations.

I guess Apple forgot to order them while they were counting the bags of money that clueless people hand them every month.

I’ve got a Mac Pro with Xeon chips, 64 gig EEC RAM and it’s as fast as our high-end Lenovo workstation.

Granted, I HATE the trash can design, 1tb hdd limitation and lack of FireWire ports, but I load the heck out of that machine and it’s fast...

I’ve got a Quadra 800 I bought at Comdex many, many years ago, and it’s still running!

Same as my 604e, my Power Mac, Power PC and my old-model Mac Pro.

They’re built like bulldozers!

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